SOS

[Paul W UK]

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's 80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's 80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong. Can I recover it?

 

[David-P]

Paul,

Assuming you are running some kind of Windows machine, you can try looking for it by using the Search facility (bottom left hand corner of my screen, when you click on start. Do a search of all files within the last day or so. (There should be an option for this) You may find you saved it in an odd folder.

Good luck -- Let us know!

david

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

 

[Paul W UK]

I've looked in Wndows Explorer for pict0001 or pict00 updated today and for the folder title I gave under '80th' or 'mum' and there is nothing...and nothing in the trash. It just seems to have evporated.

Thanks for the suggestion - but I really think it's a no hoper - disataster has struck! Having told my parents I had lots of nice shots I'll now have to break it to them they're all gone. And I still don't know what I did wrong...

Just so disappointing.

Assuming you are running some kind of Windows machine, you can try
looking for it by using the Search facility (bottom left hand
corner of my screen, when you click on start. Do a search of all
files within the last day or so. (There should be an option for
this) You may find you saved it in an odd folder.

Good luck -- Let us know!

david

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

 

[Godfrey]

I'm not sure I understand what you did (I don't use Dimage Viewer, and I run Mac OS X...).

Perhaps you still have them on the storage card in the camera? You can always re-download the files to your computer.

Godfrey

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

 

[John down under]

G'day Paul,

Don't give up yet. Your description of what you did is a bit confusing. If you are able to say exactly what you did, I think that would help.

How did you transfer your files from your CF card to your computer?

Did you delete them from the card or reformat the card?

Even if you deleted the files from your card and computer, you may be able to undelete them with an appropriate utility if you have not overwritten that space on your card or hard disk. You could give the undelete function in Tuneup Utilities 2004 a try. It works fully as a 30 day demo. I downloaded the 7MB demo from Tucows.com. It will find all the files you've deleted in the last day or whatever you decide.

Where did you put the files on your computer and how did you put them there?

It sounds like you saw them in DIVU before they 'disappeared'. Were you looking at them from their location on your computer or on the CF card (in a card reader or your camera)?

'New file' sounds like you created a new file rather than renaming your existing fiiles.

From your description, I can't tell what you did. Could you have possibly created new files altogether, changed file names (on your computer or CF card?), changed folder name or created a new folder and moved the files to that new folder?

When you search for them, make sure you are searching all locations and not just one folder on one hard drive. Also make sure you search for the old name and the name you think you might have changed the file name to, unless you only changed the folder name, in which case search for the old and new folder name too.

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

--
Cheers from down under in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia



My PBase galleries since 16 Apr 04: http://www.pbase.com/john_down_under
Konica-Minolta Challenges, Faces and FAx: http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies

 

[Nagahead]

Hi Paul. Let's try the old DOS method:

With the following sequence:

start > programs > accessories > command prompt

you will get a DOS window.

Let's suppose you have another hard drive where you stored the picture, say, drive D, type the following:

d:

then type: cd\
to get to the root directory and you will see the command prompt like this:

d:\>

now, type:

dir 20*.* s p

and you will be shown a list files from the whole hard drive with names that begin with '20' and whatever that follows. (i.e. if you renamed the file as 2004...... Now if you renamed it to something else, try other name starters.)

The files will be shown one page at a time, waiting for you to press a key to continue. When you see the file you want, note the file's location i.e. the folder it is in and then you can use windows explorer to access the file.

Now, if you don't find the file in a designated drive, try another by typing the drive name folowed with a colon (just like you did for d and continue trying.

In the end, if you can find the file, CONGRATS! If not ... well, I know what it really feels like.

Good luck!

--
Nagahead ... the big DOM.

 

[Paul W UK]

Don't give up yet. Your description of what you did is a bit
confusing. If you are able to say exactly what you did, I think
that would help.

How did you transfer your files from your CF card to your computer?

Did you delete them from the card or reformat the card?

Even if you deleted the files from your card and computer, you may
be able to undelete them with an appropriate utility if you have
not overwritten that space on your card or hard disk. You could
give the undelete function in Tuneup Utilities 2004 a try. It works
fully as a 30 day demo. I downloaded the 7MB demo from Tucows.com.
It will find all the files you've deleted in the last day or
whatever you decide.

Where did you put the files on your computer and how did you put
them there?

It sounds like you saw them in DIVU before they 'disappeared'. Were
you looking at them from their location on your computer or on the
CF card (in a card reader or your camera)?

'New file' sounds like you created a new file rather than renaming
your existing fiiles.

From your description, I can't tell what you did. Could you have
possibly created new files altogether, changed file names (on your
computer or CF card?), changed folder name or created a new folder
and moved the files to that new folder?

When you search for them, make sure you are searching all locations
and not just one folder on one hard drive. Also make sure you
search for the old name and the name you think you might have
changed the file name to, unless you only changed the folder name,
in which case search for the old and new folder name too.

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

--
Cheers from down under in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia



My PBase galleries since 16 Apr 04:
http://www.pbase.com/john_down_under
Konica-Minolta Challenges, Faces and FAx:
http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies

 

[Paul W UK]

I'm not ignoring you guys - it's just I made my gaff late last night and went to bed with it unresolved. Thank you for your suggestions and I'm going to work through them all very methodically today.

Initially, I'm going to try Nagahead's dos search, then if that turns up nothing, try downloading the recovery software JDU listed.

I won't go into huge detail on what I did because I was doing several things and wasn't giving it my total attention...but I think I was browsing Dimage Viewer and highlighted the 'New folder' that had the photos. I had already dragged the pictures from an imbedded km folder that had been automatically created within the 'new folder' I had created and placed them directly in the 'new folder' and then deleted the empty (checked first) km folder. With the 'new folder' highlighted I think I did what I usually do and right clicked to select rename and then overtyped 2004 12 Mum's 80th over New folder. Then I just couldn't see it any more.

I've searched in Window's Explorer browsing My Computer looking for 80th, mum, new, pict00...all of which produced no files updated that day..only older files. Oh and they are not in the trash/dustbin.

But I'm going to carry on with your techniques.

One glimmer of hope is that I have not deleted them as such from my computer. As for the camera Godfrey, unfortunately, I used the option in DIVU to take the images off the camera, rather than copy them from the camera - this leaves the card empty ready to use again. But again I have not formally deleted anything unless DIVU does that as part of the process. And I do know the images were on the computer once.

Rest assured I will try everything you have suggested and many thanks for giving up the time to reply so fully. As always the advice from this forum and all of you is very much appreciated and particularly this time.

I'll let you know how I get on but I'm going to take it slow and steady. Got to go out anyway this morning so I'll have a look this afternoon.

Best regards to my would-be rescuers,

Paul

One

Don't give up yet. Your description of what you did is a bit
confusing. If you are able to say exactly what you did, I think
that would help.

How did you transfer your files from your CF card to your computer?

Did you delete them from the card or reformat the card?

Even if you deleted the files from your card and computer, you may
be able to undelete them with an appropriate utility if you have
not overwritten that space on your card or hard disk. You could
give the undelete function in Tuneup Utilities 2004 a try. It works
fully as a 30 day demo. I downloaded the 7MB demo from Tucows.com.
It will find all the files you've deleted in the last day or
whatever you decide.

Where did you put the files on your computer and how did you put
them there?

It sounds like you saw them in DIVU before they 'disappeared'. Were
you looking at them from their location on your computer or on the
CF card (in a card reader or your camera)?

'New file' sounds like you created a new file rather than renaming
your existing fiiles.

From your description, I can't tell what you did. Could you have
possibly created new files altogether, changed file names (on your
computer or CF card?), changed folder name or created a new folder
and moved the files to that new folder?

When you search for them, make sure you are searching all locations
and not just one folder on one hard drive. Also make sure you
search for the old name and the name you think you might have
changed the file name to, unless you only changed the folder name,
in which case search for the old and new folder name too.

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

--
Cheers from down under in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia



My PBase galleries since 16 Apr 04:
http://www.pbase.com/john_down_under
Konica-Minolta Challenges, Faces and FAx:
http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies

 

[bill hansen]

Reading all this, it is still not clear whether you've deleted the files from your CF card. That's the first thing to check, and if possible I'd check it with a card reader instead of checking with Dimage Viewer. You could even take the card to a local photo store and have them check the card (most photo stores can do this, if they print photos - and many do that).

That's the key thing. Re-check that CF card - veeeery carefully!

The second most likely thing is that you've accidentally saved the folder containing your images to a part of your HD which you usually don't check. The suggestion to check any other partitions or HDs is an excellent one.

Third - it's possible that when re-typing the filenames or the folder name, you changed the file extension or mis-typed the folder name, so your usual search won't find the name you thought you typed. Try a search on a part of the name. Try poking through your HD manually.

I've terrified myself several times by accidentally saving to a HD or a folder I didn't mean to use, and/or by mis-typing a folder name.

 

[KueH]

Try doing a search on your computer, looking for all jpg files. Then look for any grouping of jpg files that have similar names like those from the camera.

I believe it is possible to perform an undelete attempt on the CF card, even if you have taken a couple of pictures afterwards. Normally, when deleting files, a character is added to the name of file which doesn't allow explorer to see it. All that is needed is a utility to can read the fat table of your device. (Well this is the way disks worked when I was messing with this sort of stuff) The only problem with taken a couple of pictures aftwerwards is that some of the data has been overwritten and some of the deleted pictures will be corrupt.

 

[Paul W UK]

Yabadabadoooooo! It's worked!!!!!!!!!

I tried all the search methods I could muster on my hard disc using the suggestions made above but found nothing. It seems like DIVU just didn't like me renaming that file for some reason. I'll have to tread far more carefully in future and get the Photoshop Elements 3 upgrade so I don't need DIVU even for RAW images.

Anyway I was particularly intrigued by the thought that although my camera said no images were on the card, that they might be recoverable (thanks to JDU, Bill Hansen and KueH specifically, who all mentioned this possibility).

So I phoned up my local camera store that does digital image printing from cards, etc but no go. They had a card reader, of course, but no special recovery software. Then I tried two local computer shops with engineers - again no immediate help. One said it would be better to bring the computer in as they felt the card sounded as if it would be empty. While the second might well have helped on Monday when one of their staff was back in who is a also professional photographer.

But I then thought of a graphic design friend (Tony Dawson to give him a well earned plug) who I know has a Fuji digital camera and gave him a ring. Sure enough he'd had problems with a card once and downloaded some software that had worked for him. I took the card around and he put it in his reader. At first is said empty but then on further veeeery careful searches (as suggested by bill hansen) it started finding files, about 50 in all which sounds about right. It then started saving them and he had to get on with a bit or work so he said he'd finish it off.

I am seeing him socially tonight with some other friends and he has promised to bring my card and a CD with all my images on! His feeling is - they will be fine.

So it's a huge sigh or relief and a very happy thank you to everyone who answered my SOS call and gave such great advice. It certainly stopped me using the card till I was able to get it looked at and it seems that all will be well.

As we say in the UK 'bloody great' (apologies for the language but I am very pleased)

Many thanks to one and all,

From a very relieved Paul who has just avoided having to make a rather embarassing call to his ageing p's...they need never know!

Try doing a search on your computer, looking for all jpg files.
Then look for any grouping of jpg files that have similar names
like those from the camera.

I believe it is possible to perform an undelete attempt on the CF
card, even if you have taken a couple of pictures afterwards.
Normally, when deleting files, a character is added to the name of
file which doesn't allow explorer to see it. All that is needed is
a utility to can read the fat table of your device. (Well this is
the way disks worked when I was messing with this sort of stuff)
The only problem with taken a couple of pictures aftwerwards is
that some of the data has been overwritten and some of the deleted
pictures will be corrupt.

 

[Godfrey]

Good to hear it!

I would recommend a different strategy in the future:

• FIRST, make a copy of whatever is on your card to the hard drive into an

archive folder location. I don't know earlier versions of Windows well, but
I know that XP will mount most any media in a card reader as a volume
and allow you to just copy whatever you have into a folder.

• SECOND, use DIVU or whatever that downloads and deletes if you want to.

I don't use anything but Mac OS X, Photoshop CS and iView Media Pro to manage my digital camera files. I don't use any of the manufacturers' supplied software at all for any of my cameras.

Godfrey

 

[David-P]

As I wrote earlier, when I cannot find recently created files on my computer (Win 2000), I use the "search for files or folders" program as I said.

What I perhaps didnt make clear in my earlier posting is that I dont put the name of the file, or even it's extension (.jpg etc) into the box; but by omitting a filename altogether, and using the date feature, Windows will do a search for ALL files created during the time period selected. I also select all drives.

This will then find everything that still exists in the directories (files and folders that were created during the fime period). Often the reason I cant find a file is because I saved it somewhere unexpected or gave it a name I didnt remember correctly.

david

 

[Godfrey]

That's a useful technique on Mac OS X too if you "misplace" files in the file system.

You can search using many parameters aside from file name alone, and use several parameters in combination.

Godfrey

 

[Paul W UK]

Godfrey,

Don't worry - extreme caution will be exercised in future with archive copies as you suggest.

As for manufacturer's own software, it seems a very commong gripe and hardly anyone on this forum seems to like or use DIVU/Dimage Viewer - I am trying to focus on Photoshop Elements but was looking in DIVU because thats the only way I can look at RAW images at present> I will need to upgrade to Elements 3 (must have bought PSE2 with teh camera about a week before 3 was released) or CS (pricey?).

Thanks for the tips,

Paul

Good to hear it!

I would recommend a different strategy in the future:

• FIRST, make a copy of whatever is on your card to the hard drive

into an
archive folder location. I don't know earlier versions of Windows
well, but
I know that XP will mount most any media in a card reader as a volume
and allow you to just copy whatever you have into a folder.

• SECOND, use DIVU or whatever that downloads and deletes if you

want to.

I don't use anything but Mac OS X, Photoshop CS and iView Media Pro
to manage my digital camera files. I don't use any of the
manufacturers' supplied software at all for any of my cameras.

Godfrey

 

[Paul W UK]

Yep, I did try your earlier suggestion as one of my searches, looking at all files changed/updated/created since the day before I loaded the picures and with no name specified - a useful feature I hadn't used before but they really have gone - not just mislaid - gone. The are ex-pictures. They are no more. They have gone to meet their etc...etc ...for M.Python fans.

It was only after I had completed all the searches that I started looking at recovery from the card as the next best option.

Thanks again - as Godfrey has suggetsed I'll be making archive copies ...but will very soon need a new computer as this one is filling up fast. Also at 600mhtz very sloooooooooow compared with the current ones.

Cheers,

paul

As I wrote earlier, when I cannot find recently created files on my
computer (Win 2000), I use the "search for files or folders"
program as I said.

What I perhaps didnt make clear in my earlier posting is that I
dont put the name of the file, or even it's extension (.jpg etc)
into the box; but by omitting a filename altogether, and using the
date feature, Windows will do a search for ALL files created during
the time period selected. I also select all drives.

This will then find everything that still exists in the directories
(files and folders that were created during the fime period). Often
the reason I cant find a file is because I saved it somewhere
unexpected or gave it a name I didnt remember correctly.

david

 

[Darrell Turner]

I'm new to the A2 but I have about 30 years working with computers and therefore computer files. One thing that's good to never, ever forget is backup, backup, backup. This should start the moment you begin the process of transferring the files from your storage card. As a rule I treat the camera's card like a plain disk (floppy or otherwise). I don't get fancy with the transfer programs supplied by the card manufacturers. In fact I ignore their transfer methods. I pull the card from the camera, stick it into whatever I'm using as a card reader, open the folder with the files, then copy and paste to a ready folder created to segregate them from my other picture files. I always format or delete within the camera and never move the files from the card (use copy). I delay clearing the card until after I've made a second set of the originals on my hard drive. The only time I touch the originals is to make a fresh copy. I periodically burn batches to CD. Given today's CD costs there's no excuse for failing to make backups. I've learned, once again, the hard way. I took family portraits of a number of friends for the holidays last year and then in January lost my hard drive, before backing up. Needless to say they came back looking for copies and all I could do was look dumb.

JMHO

I was just looking at the pictures I took last night of my mother's
80th in Dimage Viewer and I renamed the 'new file' as 2004 12 Mum's
80th and its just gone...disappeared.

If I've lost them I'll be so sad as I had some really unique family
shots.

Can't find it anywhere on the computer - what have I done wrong.
Can I recover it?

 

[Godfrey]

You might look at iView Media Pro for viewing and sorting RAW files ... it can handle the MRW format nicely. Take a look at http://www.iview-multimedia.com for more details.

I use Photoshop CS and it is fair pricey, but I find it well worth the money. PSE3 seems very good for the money, however, and would be my choice otherwise.

You should also look at buying some kind of off-line storage (a big hard drive, DVD burner, etc). Photographs take up lots of space and will eventually overwhelm any storage device. I currently use a pair of external, FireWire interface, 250G drives as my archive repository as well as a library of CD-R and DVD-R backups. The keys to digital archiving is duplication and maintenance.

Godfrey

As for manufacturer's own software, it seems a very commong gripe
and hardly anyone on this forum seems to like or use DIVU/Dimage
Viewer - I am trying to focus on Photoshop Elements but was looking
in DIVU because thats the only way I can look at RAW images at
present> I will need to upgrade to Elements 3 (must have bought
PSE2 with teh camera about a week before 3 was released) or CS
(pricey?).

 

[bill hansen]

Very glad to read that your problem has been solved!! What a nightmare that must have been!

As I read your first post, I was reminded of the many people who have had problems with the viewers, like DIVU, which are supplied by camera manufacturers. A card reader will bypass all that. It may be something to consider.

Bill

 

[John down under]

I'm glad you look like you haven't lost your photos after all. There are utilities around that do a good job of recovering photos from corrupted cards and it's probably a good idea to have one of them hanging around. Here's a link I saved to a thread back in April and I'm sure there are plenty of other good options out there:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=8602470

I tried all the search methods I could muster on my hard disc using
the suggestions made above but found nothing. It seems like DIVU
just didn't like me renaming that file for some reason. I'll have
to tread far more carefully in future and get the Photoshop
Elements 3 upgrade so I don't need DIVU even for RAW images.

Anyway I was particularly intrigued by the thought that although my
camera said no images were on the card, that they might be
recoverable (thanks to JDU, Bill Hansen and KueH specifically, who
all mentioned this possibility).

So I phoned up my local camera store that does digital image
printing from cards, etc but no go. They had a card reader, of
course, but no special recovery software. Then I tried two local
computer shops with engineers - again no immediate help. One said
it would be better to bring the computer in as they felt the card
sounded as if it would be empty. While the second might well have
helped on Monday when one of their staff was back in who is a also
professional photographer.

But I then thought of a graphic design friend (Tony Dawson to give
him a well earned plug) who I know has a Fuji digital camera and
gave him a ring. Sure enough he'd had problems with a card once and
downloaded some software that had worked for him. I took the card
around and he put it in his reader. At first is said empty but then
on further veeeery careful searches (as suggested by bill hansen)
it started finding files, about 50 in all which sounds about right.
It then started saving them and he had to get on with a bit or work
so he said he'd finish it off.

I am seeing him socially tonight with some other friends and he has
promised to bring my card and a CD with all my images on! His
feeling is - they will be fine.

So it's a huge sigh or relief and a very happy thank you to
everyone who answered my SOS call and gave such great advice. It
certainly stopped me using the card till I was able to get it
looked at and it seems that all will be well.

As we say in the UK 'bloody great' (apologies for the language but
I am very pleased)

Many thanks to one and all,

From a very relieved Paul who has just avoided having to make a
rather embarassing call to his ageing p's...they need never know!

Try doing a search on your computer, looking for all jpg files.
Then look for any grouping of jpg files that have similar names
like those from the camera.

I believe it is possible to perform an undelete attempt on the CF
card, even if you have taken a couple of pictures afterwards.
Normally, when deleting files, a character is added to the name of
file which doesn't allow explorer to see it. All that is needed is
a utility to can read the fat table of your device. (Well this is
the way disks worked when I was messing with this sort of stuff)
The only problem with taken a couple of pictures aftwerwards is
that some of the data has been overwritten and some of the deleted
pictures will be corrupt.

--
Cheers from down under in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia



My PBase galleries since 16 Apr 04: http://www.pbase.com/john_down_under
Konica-Minolta Challenges, Faces and FAx: http://www.pbase.com/mtf_foto_studies